Comments on: It is done: Spirit will RIP on the Martian surface

By: Paco

Paco — Thu, 26 May 2011 19:25:31 +0000

Wow. I feel like a friend has died. I hope they build you and your brother (sister?) a statue on the Washington DC Mall.

Kudos to NASA for getting it right (unlike the abysmally stupid and wasteful ISS and shuttle programs).

By: Rory

Rory — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:09:32 +0000

Very well said, Art. Maybe someday after we’ve gone to Mars our kids will visit the Smithsonian and see Spirit in a well-deserved place of honor.

By: Patrick Tomlinson

Patrick Tomlinson — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:38:23 +0000

I’m actually really sorry to hear that. Who knew I’d get emotionally invested in the little critter. Keep on rollin’, Opportunity!

By: Bodach

Bodach — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:30:21 +0000

Thanks, little guy, and thanks to everyone @ NASA that could pull something like this off.

By: gwen

gwen — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:10:46 +0000

There is nothing I can possibly add to the previous posts…*sniff,sniff*

By: Art

Art — Wed, 25 May 2011 06:50:37 +0000

Computerized mechanisms don’t have souls; I doubt humans have souls.

But Spirit gave worked longer and harder, and provided more fodder for science, than anyone had any reason to expect. If a human gave such a generous return on so small an investment, under such lousy conditions we would say they had a lot of heart, grit and determination. We would declare them a hero.

Spirit may not have had a lot of smarts or independent creativity, but it had heart. It is, and always will be, a heroic inspiration.

I get he feeling that one day, perhaps years from now, when the resources are free and some smart-assed intern points it to in the right direction on a lark there will be a faint signal of a forlorn robotic explorer requesting orders.

And in a decade, or ten, when we land humans on Mars, they will wander out on a lark and find the brave little explorer and erect a cairn.

By: Joshua Zelinsky

Joshua Zelinsky — Wed, 25 May 2011 05:20:12 +0000

You did good, Spirit, you did good.

(Also, it might just be that I cry really easily but I did actually cry at the xkcd from a few months ago about Spirit http://xkcd.com/695/ )

By: Vince whirlwind

Vince whirlwind — Wed, 25 May 2011 05:06:10 +0000

That’s going to be one lonely rover when it eventually wakes up…

By: Charles Sullivan

Charles Sullivan — Wed, 25 May 2011 04:02:59 +0000

It sure had a run way beyond expectations.

By: Riman Butterbur

Riman Butterbur — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:59:19 +0000

I bet there's a lot of mourning at NASA. Remember the poignant eulogy to the first Mars lander in The Planetary Report?